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| Syria opposition unity talks face specter of collapse Friday, May 24, 2013 07:15 PM PDT  By Khaled Yacoub Oweis ISTANBUL - Syrian opposition talks aimed at presenting a coherent front at an international peace conference to end the civil war faced the prospect of collapse after President Bashar al-Assad's foes failed to cut an internal deal, opposition sources said on Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
| CA-NEWS Summary Friday, May 24, 2013 05:54 PM PDT UK fighters escort Pakistan plane to airport, two arrests LONDON (Reuters) - British fighter jets escorted a Pakistan International Airlines passenger plane to Stansted Airport near London on Friday, where police went on board and arrested two men on suspicion of endangering an aircraft. Passengers were leaving the plane and no one was hurt in the incident, a spokesman for the airport said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Guatemalan ex-president extradited to U.S. on money-laundering charges Friday, May 24, 2013 05:54 PM PDT  By Mike McDonald GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo was extradited on Friday to the United States to face money-laundering charges, just days after former dictator Efrain Rios Montt's genocide conviction was overturned. A U.S. grand jury decided in 2009 that Portillo, who was in office from 2000 to 2004, should face charges that he laundered $70 million through U.S. banks. ... Full Story | Top |
| Stockholm calmer but violence spreads outside Swedish capital Friday, May 24, 2013 05:36 PM PDT  By Ilze Filks and Mia Shanley STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A nearly week-long spate of rioting spread outside Stockholm on Friday but authorities said police reinforcements sent to the Swedish capital had reduced the violence there, even though dozens of youths set cars and a recycling station ablaze. The rioting - set off earlier this month by the police shooting of a 69-year-old man - continued for a sixth night in mainly poor immigrant areas in Stockholm. ... Full Story | Top |
| Toronto mayor denies, finally, use of crack cocaine Friday, May 24, 2013 02:44 PM PDT  By Julie Gordon TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, under pressure to respond to allegations he was filmed using drugs, said on Friday that he does not smoke crack cocaine and could not comment on a video he had not seen or does not exist. "There has been a serious accusation from the Toronto Star that I use crack cocaine. I do not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine," he told a news conference. ... Full Story | Top |
| IMF's Lagarde escapes formal investigation in court Friday, May 24, 2013 02:37 PM PDT  By Noémie Olive PARIS (Reuters) - French magistrates decided on Friday not to place IMF chief Christine Lagarde under formal investigation over her role in a 285-million-euro ($368.5 million) arbitration payment made to a supporter of former president Nicolas Sarkozy. Lagarde instead was given the status of a "supervised witness" after two full days of questioning on her 2008 decision as Sarkozy's finance minister to use arbitration to settle a legal battle between the state and businessman Bernard Tapie. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bosnia president, charged with graft, freed from jail Friday, May 24, 2013 02:30 PM PDT  SARAJEVO (Reuters) - The president of Bosnia's autonomous Muslim-Croat federation was freed from jail on Friday after the Constitutional Court ordered his release following his arrest last month on corruption charges. President Zivko Budimir was arrested along with 19 other officials in late April in the most high-profile anti-corruption drive in Bosnia since independence more than two decades ago. A court ordered Budimir and his four co-accused aides to be kept in detention because some of them held Croatian passports and there was a risk they might try to flee. ... Full Story | Top |
| Church of England unveils plan for women bishops in 2015 Friday, May 24, 2013 12:08 PM PDT By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor (Reuters) - The Church of England published a plan on Friday to approve the ordination of women bishops by 2015, a widely supported reform it just missed passing last November after two decades of divisive debate. It said the new plan, outlined in a document signed by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Archbishop of York John Sentamu, would be presented to the General Synod, the Church legislature, in July to begin the approval process. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria opposition seeks to unify as momentum for talks builds Friday, May 24, 2013 12:00 PM PDT By Khaled Yacoub Oweis ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syria's fractious opposition scrambled to agree a new leadership on Friday in a bid to present a coherent front at peace talks which the United States and Russia are convening to seek an end to more than two years of civil war. A major assault by President Bashar al-Assad's forces on a rebel held town over the past week is shaping into a pivotal battle. It has drawn in fighters from Assad's Lebanese allies Hezbollah, justifying fears that a war that has killed 80,000 people would cross borders at the heart of the Middle East. ... Full Story | Top |
| Taliban attack international compound in Afghan capital Friday, May 24, 2013 10:49 AM PDT  By Amie Ferris-Rotman and Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban militants launched a large-scale attack involving the United Nations in the center of the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday, sparking a five-hour battle with security forces. A plume of smoke hung over Kabul after the attack was launched, with the sound of .50 caliber heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and sniper fire clearly audible throughout the city center as night fell. An Afghan police officer was killed and 10 other people were wounded during the attack, which began at 4 p.m. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK treating plane incident as criminal, not terror-related Friday, May 24, 2013 10:49 AM PDT STANSTED, England (Reuters) - British police said on Friday they are treating an incident involving a plane carrying almost 300 passengers from Pakistan as criminal rather than as terror-related. "It's a criminal investigation under the direction of Essex police," Superintendent Darrin Tomkins told reporters at Stansted airport near London to where the plane was diverted. Asked if it could be terror related, he added: "This incident is being treated as a criminal offence." "The plane will remain at its current location and will subject to forensic examination by specialist officers. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. casts doubt on credibility of Iran election Friday, May 24, 2013 10:18 AM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed TEL AVIV (Reuters) - The United States on Friday called into question the credibility of Iran's presidential election next month, criticizing the disqualification of candidates and accusing Tehran of disrupting Internet access. On a visit to Israel, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also warned that time was running out to resolve the deadlock over Iran's contested nuclear program. ... Full Story | Top |
| British police close motorway to deal with suspicious vehicle Friday, May 24, 2013 10:16 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - British police closed one of the country's busiest motorways in both directions on Friday to deal with an incident which highway officials said involved a suspicious vehicle. "We are dealing with a major incident," a spokesman for Warwickshire Police said after police closed part of the M6 motorway which forms the backbone of Britain's road system. A spokesman for the Highways Agency said a suspicious vehicle was currently parked at Corley service station, a rest area north of Coventry. (Reporting by Maria Golovnina and Paul Sandle, editing by Guy Faulconbridge) Full Story | Top |
| British security services in spotlight after soldier murder Friday, May 24, 2013 10:15 AM PDT  By Peter Griffiths LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's security services faced questions on Friday over whether they could have done more to prevent the murder of a soldier hacked to death in a busy London street after it emerged that his suspected killers were known to intelligence officers. Suspects Michael Adebolajo, 28 and Michael Adebowale, 22, are under guard in hospital after being shot and arrested by police after the murder of 25-year-old Afghan war veteran Lee Rigby on Wednesday. They have not yet been charged. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bahraini protesters clash with police over raid on cleric's home Friday, May 24, 2013 09:31 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Hundreds of Bahraini Shi'ite Muslims angered by a raid last week on a top cleric's home clashed with police on Friday, while thousands more gathered in the cleric's village for a peaceful sit-in against their Sunni-led government. The raid by security forces on the home of Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassim on May 17 infuriated the opposition and drew condemnation from neighboring Shi'ite power Iran. Bahrain, home to the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Switzerland sees free-trade pact with China in July Friday, May 24, 2013 09:27 AM PDT  ZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss government said on Friday it hopes to sign a free-trade agreement (FTA) with China that would be the first such deal of its kind between Beijing and continental Europe when Switzerland's economy minister visits China in July. "I hope we can sign our FTA at the occasion of my confirmed visit to Beijing in mid-July," Johann Schneider Ammann during a visit by Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang. Schneider-Ammann did not give further details on the content of the agreement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Algerian jihadi mastermind claims Niger suicide attacks Friday, May 24, 2013 09:19 AM PDT By Abdoulaye Massalatchi NIAMEY (Reuters) - French special forces and Niger troops shot dead on Friday the last two Islamists involved in a twin attack on a military base and a French uranium mine in Niger, which was claimed by the mastermind of January's mass hostage-taking in Algeria. Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a one-eyed veteran of al Qaeda's north African operations, said in a statement that his Mulathameen brigade organized Thursday's raids with the MUJWA militant group in retaliation for Niger's role in a French-led war on Islamists in Mali. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkey builds wall at Syria border crossing after bombs Friday, May 24, 2013 09:07 AM PDT ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey is constructing 2.5-km-long (1.5 mile) twin walls at a border crossing with Syria to increase security at the frontier following three deadly bombings this year. The concrete walls will be built on either side of the road leading from the Turkish side of the crossing at Cilvegozu to the Syrian border gate and will be topped with barbed wire, the Turkish Customs Ministry said in a statement. Cilvegozu was the scene of a bombing in February which killed 14 people and this month 51 people died when twin car bombs ripped through the nearby town of Reyhanli. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iceland's new PM rejects EU, but embraces EU economic goals Friday, May 24, 2013 08:09 AM PDT  By Jon Thor Viglundsson REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Iceland must find stability by aiming for the same economic goals as those set for European Union states, even though it is skeptical about joining the EU and will keep its own currency, the new prime minister said. Iceland is still recovering from the collapse of its top three banks in late 2008 and although growth has returned, many Icelanders are disappointed at what they see as a slow recovery. ... Full Story | Top |
| Stretched by riots, Swedish police call reinforcements Friday, May 24, 2013 08:04 AM PDT By Ilze Filks and Mia Shanley STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Police in Stockholm called in reinforcements on Friday after youths set cars and a school ablaze in a fifth night of rioting, the worst to hit Sweden for years. Pupils at a primary school in Kista - an IT hub that is home to the likes of telecoms equipment maker Ericsson and the Swedish office of Microsoft - arrived to find the inside of the small red wooden building had been completely burnt out. ... Full Story | Top |
| BA jet makes emergency landing after engine fire Friday, May 24, 2013 07:50 AM PDT  By Rhys Jones and Kate Holton LONDON (Reuters) - A British Airways plane with 80 people on board made an emergency landing at London's Heathrow airport on Friday after the right engine burst into flames shortly after take-off and the casing ripped away from the left. The British carrier, part of IAG, said all 75 passengers and five crew members were safe after having been evacuated from the aircraft down emergency chutes on landing. Video footage taken on board the plane as it came into land revealed the silver internal components of the engine. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK fighters escort Pakistan plane to airport, two arrests Friday, May 24, 2013 07:48 AM PDT  By Rhys Jones and Peter Griffiths LONDON (Reuters) - British fighter jets escorted a Pakistan International Airlines passenger plane to Stansted Airport near London on Friday, where police went on board and arrested two men on suspicion of endangering an aircraft. Passengers were leaving the plane and no one was hurt in the incident, a spokesman for the airport said. Flight PK709 from Lahore in Pakistan had been due to land at Manchester in northern England with 297 passengers on board, but was diverted shortly before arrival. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry, Lavrov hold phone call on Syria peace conference Friday, May 24, 2013 07:47 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone on Friday to discuss efforts to bring Syria's warring parties to a peace conference, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "The situation in Syria was discussed in the context of an international conference for a political settlement in the country," the ministry said in a statement on its website. Kerry and Lavrov last met on May 7 in Moscow and agreed to try to get the Syrian government and opposition to discuss an end to the more than 2-year-old civil war. ... Full Story | Top |
| Threats made aboard diverted Pakistan plane: passenger Friday, May 24, 2013 07:39 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - A passenger aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane flying from Lahore to Manchester that was diverted under military jet escort to Stansted, northeast of London on Friday said someone had made threats against its crew. "We landed safely and then he (the pilot) announced that they had had some kind of threat from someone and that's why he landed the plane," the passenger, identified only as Munsif, told BBC television. He said he was sitting in the front of the plane but that the incident had happened at the back. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan should consider IMF deal after reforms in place: adviser Friday, May 24, 2013 07:32 AM PDT  By Tomasz Janowski LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's new leadership expects first results of its planned steps to shore up its finances and ease a power crisis in two or three months and only then should decide whether and on what terms to seek an IMF bailout, a senior policy adviser said on Friday. Most economists, lenders and rating agencies say that the nation's finances have reached such a critical stage that a deal with the International Monetary Fund will be necessary and the sooner it comes the better. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spain's Princess Cristina faces new tax probe Friday, May 24, 2013 07:28 AM PDT  MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish judge has opened an investigation into Princess Cristina's tax returns after an earlier charge of being an accomplice in an embezzlement case against her husband was dropped. In a judicial writ made public on Friday, Examining Magistrate Jose Castro said he has asked the tax agency for information to determine whether Cristina, daughter of Spain's King Juan Carlos, engaged in tax evasion or money laundering between 2007 and 2010. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exiled cleric who taught UK knifeman praises 'courage' Friday, May 24, 2013 07:25 AM PDT  By Dominic Evans TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - A Syrian-born Islamist cleric who taught one of the men accused of hacking to death an off-duty British soldier on a London street praised the attack for its "courage" and said Muslims would see it as a strike on a military target. In an interview in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, where he has lived since being banished from Britain in 2005, Omar Bakri, founder of banned British Islamist group Al Muhajiroun, said he knew suspect Michael Adebolajo from his lectures a decade ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK source says appears Pakistani plane not subject of terror attack Friday, May 24, 2013 07:10 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - A British security source said early indications suggested that a Pakistan International Airlines plane diverted from Manchester to Stansted Airport on Friday was not the subject of a terror attack. The Defense Ministry said earlier on Friday that it had scrambled fighter jets to escort the plane to Stansted, to the north east of London. A spokesman for Stansted Airport said the plane was being held in an isolated area and that the rest of the airport was operating as normal. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Brenda Goh, editing by Kate Holton) Full Story | Top |
| British police arrest two men on diverted Pakistan flight Friday, May 24, 2013 07:10 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - British police arrested two men on a Pakistan International Airlines flight on Friday on suspicion of "endangerment of an aircraft" after it was escorted to a different airport by fighter jets. The plane had been flying from Lahore in Pakistan to Manchester, before it was diverted to Stansted, in Essex, southern England. (Reporting by Kate Holton and Brenda Goh; Editing by Peter Griffiths) Full Story | Top |
| Turkey bans alcohol advertising and curbs sales Friday, May 24, 2013 06:48 AM PDT By Ozge Ozbilgin ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey banned alcohol advertising and tightened restrictions on its sale on Friday, drawing criticism from secular Turks as well as the country's brewing industry. The new law includes a ban on shops selling alcohol from 10pm to 6am, with fines of up to 500,000 lira ($270,000) for owners and operators of venues that violate the law, and a possible one-year jail sentence for selling to minors. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry says Israelis, Palestinians must make tough decisions Friday, May 24, 2013 06:40 AM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian leaders must decide soon on whether to revive long-dormant peace negotiations to end their decades-old conflict, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday. Ending two days of meetings in the region, Kerry said he had had "very productive" talks. But there were no obvious signs of any breakthrough, with neither side offering the sort of compromises needed to end a three-year stalemate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia's oldest rights group fights 'foreign agent' tag Friday, May 24, 2013 06:23 AM PDT  By Timothy Heritage MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's oldest rights group began a legal battle on Friday to avoid being branded a "foreign agent" under a new law it sees as a tool of repression by President Vladimir Putin. Memorial, which has fought to preserve the memory of Josef Stalin's victims for a quarter of a century, has faced problems ever since Mikhail Gorbachev gave it his blessing in the Soviet Union's dying days. Its employees have faced harassment and bureaucratic obstacles at almost every turn. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry, Lavrov to meet on Syria in Paris on Monday Friday, May 24, 2013 06:06 AM PDT AMMAN (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet privately in Paris on Monday to discuss their efforts to bring Syria's warring parties to a peace conference, a U.S. official said on Friday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the two men would "continue their conversation (from) Moscow," a reference to their May 7 agreement to try to get the Syrian government and opposition to discuss an end to the more than 2-year-old civil war. ... Full Story | Top |
| Death toll from Guinea opposition march rises to four Friday, May 24, 2013 05:53 AM PDT  CONAKRY (Reuters) - The official death toll from Thursday's clashes between Guinean opposition protesters and police and government supporters rose to four on Friday, meaning at least 22 people have now been killed in unrest since March. The opposition, which held a rally against plans for a June election that it fears will be rigged, said three protesters were shot dead and a fourth beaten to death at the march. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korea says will take 'positive steps' for peace Friday, May 24, 2013 05:28 AM PDT  By Terril Yue Jones and Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - A North Korean envoy told China's president on Friday that his reclusive country was willing to take "positive actions" to ensure peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, as China steps up diplomatic efforts to bring Pyongyang back to talks. But Choe Ryong-hae, a special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, made no offer to abandon North Korea's nuclear program. The United States insists North Korea takes meaningful steps on denuclearization before there can be dialogue. ... Full Story | Top |
| French special forces took part in Niger operation: government Friday, May 24, 2013 05:10 AM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - French special forces took part in an operation at an army base in Niger on Friday to flush out Islamist militants suspected of involvement in an attack the previous day, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. At least 21 people were killed and dozens wounded on Thursday in coordinated dawn assaults on a uranium mine run by French company Areva at Arlit and the military base in the city of Agadez in northern Niger. ... Full Story | Top |
| Yemen's main oil pipeline attacked, pumping stopped Friday, May 24, 2013 05:09 AM PDT SANAA (Reuters) - Attackers blew up Yemen's main oil export pipeline on Friday, halting the flow of crude, the government and industry sources said. "Subversive elements" in Serwah in central Maarib province had blown up the pipeline, which leads to the Red Sea, at dawn on Friday, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. The Arabian Peninsula state, which relies on crude exports to replenish its reserves and finance up to 70 percent of budget spending, has suffered frequent bombings of its main oil pipeline since an uprising broke out in 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| Korean women scrap meeting Japanese mayor over brothel remarks Friday, May 24, 2013 04:46 AM PDT  By Yoshiyuki Osada OSAKA, Japan (Reuters) - Two elderly South Korean women forced to work in Japanese war-time military brothels canceled a meeting on Friday with the mayor of the city of Osaka after he refused to withdraw remarks asserting the brothels were "necessary" at the time. The mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, an outspoken populist who has often stirred controversy, sparked a storm of criticism at home and abroad when he said last week that the military brothels had been needed, and Japan has been unfairly singled out for wartime practices common among other militaries. ... Full Story | Top |
| Africa backs Kenya call for Hague court to drop Kenyatta case Friday, May 24, 2013 03:46 AM PDT  By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - African nations have backed a request by Kenya for charges of crimes against humanity by its president to be referred back to the east African country, African Union documents show. President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, are both facing trial in the International Criminal Court (ICC), accused of masterminding ethnic bloodshed in post-election violence five years ago that killed more than 1,200 people. Both deny the charges. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran denies it has forces in Syria Friday, May 24, 2013 03:13 AM PDT DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran denied on Friday it had forces in Syria supporting President Bashar al-Assad's army, one day after foreign backers of his rebel foes demanded Tehran withdraw its fighters from Syrian territory. "The true enemies of Syria make up these accusations to provoke the people of this country," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi said, quoted by Iranian state television. At a meeting in Jordan on Thursday, the Friends of Syria grouping of Western and Arab governments called for the immediate withdrawal from Syria of Iranian fighters and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas. ... Full Story | Top |
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